Quiz for Prisons Week
‘The idea of the quiz is for QICJ members to have a tool to raise awareness in their various Meetings of facts relating to prisons during Prisons Week.'
Quakers in Criminal Justice (QICJ) marked Prisons Week by sharing a quiz with Friends.
‘Shining a Light on our Prisons’ was sent out to QICJ members for use at their Meetings for Worship at the start, or end, of the week from 8 to 14 October.
Questions include: ‘How many prisoners were there (the daily average) in England and Wales in September 2023?’ The answer to this is: ‘As of 8 September 2023, there were 87,128 people in prison: 83,590 in the male estate and 3,538 in the female estate.’
Melanie Jameson, from QICJ, told the Friend: ‘The idea of the quiz is for QICJ members to have a tool to raise awareness in their various Meetings of facts relating to prisons during Prisons Week. They will be asked to treat this exercise as part of worshipful reflection on prisons, posing the question, then leaving a pause for thought before supplying the answer… it is a way of shining a serious spotlight (if such a thing exists!) on some of the most appalling stats (e.g. deaths in custody).’
Government figures show that, in the twelve months to June 2023, there were 313 deaths in prison custody, an increase of nine per cent from 288 deaths in the previous twelve months. Of these, eighty-eight deaths were self-inflicted, a twenty-six per cent increase from the seventy self-inflicted deaths in the previous twelve months.
Numbers released in September showed that, while prison populations and deaths are rising, staff numbers and funds are falling. One in ten prisons in England and Wales are barely fit for purpose and should be shut down if alternative buildings can be found, Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said.
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